Author's Note: I do not own NCIS LA. I write for fun, not for profit.
Everyone was gathered in the ops center, they were going over everything they had on Nell's disappearance. It was a professional job, there were no finger prints in the car or the apartment that weren't Nell's. They syringe had contained a powerful animal sedative. None of it was much good as it didn't provide an clues as to wear she had been taken or by whom.
"Eric, have you found anything on the surveillance?" asked Callen.
"Only this." said Eric cueing up some footage. "It was taken about ten minutes after Nell's car entered the garage."
They watched as a tall well built man dressed in street cloths carried a a large lumpy duffle bag down a flight of stairs. They all thought the same thing but no one wanted to say it. Nell was probably in that bag.
"Is there enough for facial recognition?" asked Sam.
Eric only shook his head, everyone could see that his normal cheerful demeanor was waining.
"I am trying to search footage from nearby cameras but I am not having any luck so far." added Eric.
"Keep looking Mr. Beale." said Hetty joining the group.
She placed an envelope on the table.
"This was left at the gate of Camp Pendleton about two hours ago."
They all stood looking at it, Callen reached for it. He opened the flap and let the contains drop to the table. It was a photo, a photo of Nell bound, gagged, and beaten in a small nondescript concrete room. The group stood silently unable to come up with a response. Deeks watched as Eric approached curious as to what had them all at a loss for words. They watched as Eric's eyes made contact with the photo, Eric just stared as he began to slide to the floor. Sam and Deeks grabbed him before he hit the floor and returned him to his chair while Callen returned the photo to the envelope.
"They are taunting us." said Sam.
"But why Nell?" asked Callen. "She isn't an agent, her clearance is fairly low and she is a stickler for security. So what could Nell have that someone would want?"
They turned to Eric, he was still in shock although he had returned to work at his terminal, he was digging up everything he could on Nell.
"She was hired straight out of school by Navy Intelligence, she was there for nearly four years before she came here." said Kensi reading over Eric's shoulder.
"What do we know about her work in intelligence?" asked Sam.
"Most of it is redacted." said Eric.
"I will make some phone calls." said Hetty. "Keep looking Mr. Callen. "
Deeks and Kensi returned to the parking structure to search for clues as to where Nell had been taken. They had been unable to follow her assailant on security footage, so they were back to old fashioned detective work. They were slowly making there way down the stair well where the footage had come from. Their normal banter was subdued, they were both focused on the task at hand, finding Nell. She wasn't a trained agent and the longer she was missing, her chances of survival grew slimmer.
"Kensi, what's wrong with this picture?" asked Deeks looking at a few steps.
Kensi looked down, out of no where a trail of blood drops began and lead down the stairs. They were the right shape and size to have fallen only a short distance. Kensi smiled as they followed the drop down three flights of stairs and out into the alley.
"My guess is they had another car waiting here, because the drops stop here." she said pointing to a spot of blood on the ground. "The bag was put down on the ground."
Deeks was already peering into a nearby dumpster, on the off chance he would find something. Kensi pulled her phone from her pocket to snap some photos before calling Eric to have him check the surveillance footage for any vehicles leaving the area. Mean while Deeks donned gloves and continued to examine the four dumpsters in the alley.
"Deeks, what are you doing?" ask Kensi putting her phone away, she was dumbfounded by him at times.
"Looking for this." he said pulling a black bag from a dumpster.
Kensi went to join her partner, as she approached she could see that blood stains.
"How can you be sure it was Nell?" asked Kensi.
Deeks carefully removed a lock of red hair from the zipper, and showed it to Kensi. She took in a deep breath, it was indeed the bag Nell had been carried in. They had to find her and soon, the blood on the bag suggested that no one had tended to her injuries.
Sam and Callen sat in the bull ben reviewing what little they had on Nell's past in the hope they could find something that would clue them in on who had taken her. So far they had nothing. Not one clue as to the why or where she had been taken.
"Guys, I've got something." said Eric approaching the bull pen.
"Kensi and Deeks had me look at the footage of the alley and I turned up this."
Eric tapped at his remote, a video beg a to play. A white van with tinted windows pulled out of the alley.
"It is registered to Sunshine Day Care in Pasadena, but they filed for bankruptcy three months ago." he paused. "I have kaleidoscope looking for the van now. "
"But for all we know they could have dumped it."
Called looked at Eric, he was loosing hope.
"We will find her, just keep working your magic," said Sam.
Eric headed off back to the security of Ops. Callan and Sam set to work trying to connect Sunshine Day Care to Nell Jones, it would be difficult if not impossible.
Kensi and Deeks were bantering about one of Kensi's humble brags while they all worked sifting though information that appeared to have no connection to Nell. IT was getting late, Nell had been missing for nearly twenty four hours. They had few clues, no ransom notes, just a photo. Callen and Sam sat watching Kensi and Deeks.
"Oh my." yelled Eric from ops.
Everyone in the bull pen dropped what they were doing and ran to see what Eric was yelling about. They found him in his chair watching a video on his computer, it was of Nell. She was still bound, lying in a pool of her own blood, being beaten with baseball bats. She was alive, but the audio gave them a terrifying picture. The two men were asking her questions in spanish and when she didn't answer they would hit her. Everyone looked to Kensi for a translation although most of them knew enough spanish to get by. Kensi's eyes grew wide.
"They want information on the location of Marcos DeSantiago." said Kensi.
"Marcos DeSantiago, a Columbian born here in the US working for the FBI and CIA to bring down Carlos Sangez. He disappeared five years ago, the intelligence community assumed him dead." said Hetty joining the team.
"But?" said Callen.
"Six months before Miss Jones joined NCIS she found DeSantiago living in Mexico under the name Elisio Vazquez."
"But what do they want from Nell?"
"DeSantiago was captured by American Forces three weeks ago. He is being held until charges can be drawn up, including treason." Hetty paused. "They are looking for this."
Hetty lay a photo of a small cargo vessel on the table.
"The Navy towed it to San Diego, what left of the crew is being held. They found 170 kilos of heroin."
"And they think Nell can lead them to Vazquez and the drugs?" said Deeks.
"That is my guess."
"So we have the why, but where is she is?" interrupted Eric loudly this time.
Everyone turned to look at Eric who was clutching the arms of his chair, Nell's chair sat empty next to him.
"Calm down Eric, I'm getting there." said Hetty. "There are teams from the FBI, CIA, and ATF gathering at the boat house to compile a list of possible locations and help to find Miss Jones."
Everyone headed out.
"Eric, just look at her, she is a fighter, we will bring her home." said Hetty placing her hand on Eric's shoulder attempting to comfort him.